


Firstborn: Luther and Duty

by notyouranswer (gorgeouschaos)



Series: Soul Singing in Your Head [1]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Character Study, Duty, Gen, Luther Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Luther's Plant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-21
Updated: 2020-08-21
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:39:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,177
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26028094
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gorgeouschaos/pseuds/notyouranswer
Summary: Luther doesn't leave the Umbrella Academy.He stays. Because Luther knows what his duty is, as Number One, as the leader of the Umbrella Academy, as the oldest.Allison leaves him her favorite plant. The note on the pot just says, Find me when you're ready.He never is. But he takes care of the plant anyway, because it's all he has left of her, and she is the only one he has ever loved with his whole heart.No matter how much he loves her, though, Luther can’t leave.His duty comes first.
Relationships: Allison Hargreeves & Luther Hargreeves, Luther Hargreeves & Everyone
Series: Soul Singing in Your Head [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1889275
Comments: 6
Kudos: 12





	Firstborn: Luther and Duty

**Author's Note:**

> Title is "Firstborn" despite them all being the same age because Luther is a textbook older sibling.  
> This was written in like half an hour so hopefully it's okay. I've been meaning to write something about Luther's plant on the moon for a while, and it just... kept going...  
> Thanks for reading, hope you like it, and I love feedback!

Luther knows he has a duty to his father, to the world, and so he never leaves the Umbrella Academy. 

Ben and Five left a long time ago. Klaus is the next to leave, vanishing in the night without so much as a note. Then it’s Diego, running away when he’s seventeen after one last apocalyptic fight with Reginald.

“Come on,” Diego says to Luther, shoving the stash of money they all pretended not to know about into his pocket. “You gonna play Daddy’s boy for the rest of your life? I could put up with your ugly face long enough for us to get jobs, we could get an apartment--”

“I’m not leaving. I’m the firstborn,” Luther says. “I know what my duty is.”

“No, you’re not. None of us are. How can you be the oldest when we were born at the exact same time?”

Luther opens his mouth, then closes it again. He doesn’t know how to explain how he knows he’s the oldest, just that it’s the truth. Instead of trying he says, “At least I know who I am.”

Luther regrets it instantly. Diego sneers, but there’s hurt in his eyes.

“You’re a narcissistic prick obsessed with Dad, is what you are,” Diego says, and he shoves past Luther with his suitcase full of knives. From the hallway, Diego calls over his shoulder, “And at least I know that I’m not you.”

It’s the last time they speak until Reginald Hargreeves’ death.

Allison and Vanya leave on their eighteenth birthday in the same cab. Vanya hugs him goodbye and tells him to call. Both of them know he won’t, but he appreciates the sentiment. 

Allison cries into his shoulder and begs him to come with them.

Luther doesn’t know how to say no to her. He never has. So he just turns away. 

He watches their cab leave with his mother at his side. Luther assumes his father is in his study.

Luther doesn't leave the Umbrella Academy. 

He stays. Because Luther knows what his duty is, as Number One, as the leader of the Umbrella Academy, as the oldest.

Allison leaves him her favorite plant. The note on the pot just says,  _ Find me when you're ready. _

He never is. But he takes care of the plant anyway, because it's all he has left of her, and she is the only one he has ever loved with his whole heart.

No matter how much he loves her, though, Luther can’t leave. 

His duty comes first. 

Luther’s twenty-five when he goes on his last real mission for the Umbrella Academy and gets turned into a monster. 

He can’t blame his father for being unable to look at him without flinching. 

After all, Luther can't look at himself. 

It’s a relief when Reginald sends him to the moon. There’s no one but himself to look at Luther and see what a failure he is.

And if he’s farther away from Allison than he’s ever been before, well. 

He’s given everything he has to the Umbrella Academy. There’s nothing left for her.

Vanya publishes her book a year after he’s sent to the moon. Luther reads it in the span of four hours and hates her like he’s never hated anyone but himself. 

She betrayed them. 

He puts the book in the waste compactor and goes to stare down at the Earth. 

Lucifer waters Allison’s goddamn plant every day of those four goddamn years, just like he watered it every goddamn day since Allison gave it to him, because he brought it with him and therefore he has a duty to it.

Besides, it’s something he can fix if he needs to. It's one of the few things that he can.

//

The death of Reginald Hargreeves leaves Luther directionless. 

He’s dedicated his whole life to his father and his father’s vision. Luther has sacrificed everything that’s ever mattered-- his humanity, his family,  _ Allison _ \-- for his father. 

Without him, Luther has nothing. 

Then he sees Allison again, and his world rights itself a little. 

Diego still doesn’t know when to stop. Somehow that’s reassuring. Some things haven’t changed. 

Diego insists their father died from natural causes, and he has evidence; Luther insists he didn’t, and has nothing but a gut feeling. 

He has a duty to the man who raised him. They all do. The problem is, none of them seem to realize it.

It takes seeing Five again for Luther to remember that he has a duty to protect his family, too.

Then there’s an apocalypse, and a concrete goal, and people trying to kill him and hurt his family.

Life makes sense again.

Luther has people to protect. 

  
  


The falling chandelier reveals the secret of what he is. Even Diego doesn’t have a quip ready.

Luther runs. He can’t pretend any longer that he thinks being changed into a monster was worth it.

There were some things even Luther wasn’t willing to give, but Reginald Hargreeves took them anyway.

//

Five sounds just like Diego when he tells Luther that he’s better than him. It’s unnerving, having his brother back so wrong. 

Still, Luther is Number One. Luther is the oldest. 

Five laughs when reminded of that fact. 

//

All it takes to remind Luther of his duty-- even hungover and full of shame at his ill-advised one night stand-- is the mention of Allison being in danger.

Allison nearly dies, and, accident or not, it’s Vanya’s fault. Luther’s youngest sister is a threat to their family and herself. 

When Vanya shows up, Luther knows what he has to do. 

When his siblings try to let her out of the controlled environment, he stops them, even as his heart twists with pain at the desperation on their faces and the sheer panic on Vanya’s. 

Luther will protect them, even if they don’t see the threat. 

He has always protected them, and he always will.

Vanya escapes. Despite himself, despite his frustration and fear, Luther is almost glad of it. Before the implications sink in, that is.

He’ll have to be the one to stop her. None of the others have the strength to. 

None of the others seem to know that they need to.

//

Watching the moon fall apart, holding hands with his siblings, Luther finally realizes what Five realized a long time ago: that his duty was never to Reginald Hargreeves. It was always to his family. 

To Diego, all sharp edges and so much heart.

To Allison, all soft eyes and dangerous smiles. 

To Klaus, all shaking hands and fragile masks.

To Five, all desperation and dedication.

To Vanya-- Vanya perhaps most of all. Vanya, who is a danger to herself and everyone around her. Vanya, who loves her music more than anything and would never hurt anyone on purpose. 

_ I will protect all of you _ , Luther swears silently as the blue light of Five’s powers blinds him.

_ I know what my duty is now. _

_ I’m sorry it took me so long to realize it. _

(Luther’s story was never really about the plant.)

**Author's Note:**

> “I could not love thee, dear, so much, loved I not honor more.”  
> -Richard Lovelace


End file.
